Lubricating device



June 3, 1947. 1 LE ROY WHITE 2,421,738

LUBRICATING DEvICE 7 Filed Dec. 24, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOE June 3, 1947.

LE ROY WI- IITE 2,421,738 LUBRICATING DEVICE Filed Dec. 24, 1943 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented June 3, 1947 UNITED "STATES PATENT OFFICE, a

LUBRICATING DEVICE Le Roy White, Shillington, Pa., assignor to Textile Machine Works, Wyomissing, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application December 24, 1943, Serial No. 515,621

1 Claim.

The present. invention relates to the lubrication of revolving wear surfaces such as those of am mechanisms and more particularly to the lubrication of couliering cams such as are used in full-fashioned knitting machines.

The wea surfaces of certain cams and their followers are subject to high unit pressures and require frequent application of lubricant in use but nevertheless operate under conditions making it impractical or undesirable to utilize theimmersion or splash oiling method whichrequires a large quantity of oil. Such a cam means is the couliering cam and followers of a full-fashioned knitting machine, the proper lubrication of which has been difficult, resulting in an undesirably high rate of wear or waste of oil with resulting untidiness and fire hazards.

.It is an object. of the invention to provide an arrangement adapted to oil the wear surfaces of cams working under high maximum unit pressures and which will reliably supply sufficient quantities of oil to the contacting surfaces of the cam and follower means to minimize the rate of wear.

Another object of the invention is to provide an oiling means for a coulier or like cam which will be simple in construction and operation, and which will be of low cost to manufacture.

Still another object is to provide means for oiling a camv and adapted to supply an ample amount of oil to the cam from .a comparatively small pool of oil.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a method of oiling wear surfaces which will be reliable and may be carried out with compact and simple means as well as with a smallpool of oil.

With these and other objects in view, which will become apparent from the following detailed description of the illustrative embodiment of the invention shown in the accompanying drawings, my invention resides in the novel device comprising the new elements, features of construction and, arrangement of parts in cooperative relationship as hereinafter more particularly pointed out in the claim.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a rear elevation of a portion of a full-fashioned knitting machine showing certain of the operating parts thereof and the oiling means of the invention in position to cooperate therewith;

Fig. 2 is a detail view of a portion of Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale compared ;to Fig. lshowing the coulier cam in elevation and certain adjacent parts in section; V

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 but showing the coulier cam in a different position;

Fig. 4 is a detailplan view of the oiling means shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, taken on the line 44 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 1.

An oiling means within the present invention adapted to carry out the foregoing objects comprises a means which is in contact at least at times with the wea surface of a cam and is actuated thereby to transfer oil from a pool thereof to the surface of the cam. Preferably, the means which brings up oil to thecam ismovedby the cam to alternately dip below the surface of the oil and to transfer oil upwardly to the surface of the cam. If desired, the part or member for elevating oil to the cam may have a flat or plate-like surface. for contacting the surface to be oiled, but the invention is not limited to this inall cases.

In the arrangement shown in the. drawings, l0 designates each of certain transverse frame members which are connected by longitudinal frame members such as the back-beam I2 and the center :bed [4 to form a rigid framework for the operating parts of a, full-fashioned knitting machine which is assumed to be of a known construction. The operating parts of the machine shown include the coulier shaft I6 at the rear end of which is fixed a coulier cam IB eccentrically mounted on and revolving with the shaft and contacting at two horizontally oppositepoints two rotatable followers 20, 20, Fig. l, which are mounted to revolve on a horizontal link 22, so that link 22 is reciprocated in use by cam I81. At its opposite ends, link 22 is pivoted to two levers 24- and 26 respectively which are mountedto oscillate in unison with each other in synchronism with cam l8 and link 22. The pivot for lever 24 is at its lower end in a bracket 28 suspended from back-beam 12 while the upper end of lever 24 .is pivoted toa link 3!], link 30 being pivoted in turn to a cross head 32 which is reciprocated by the link and lever. Cross head 32 is mounted for reciprocation on a guide bar 34 fixed. to the center bed l4 and is connected at its upper end to .a reciprocating friction. box rod 36 which in use drives the friction box or friction boxes for connection to the yarn carrier rods and yarn carriers by which yarn to be knitted is supplied to the needles.

The pivot for the lever 26 is shown supported on a bracket arrangement 38 at the upper end of lever 26, arrangement 38 being fixed to the center bed l4 and back beam I2; Near its midpoint, lever 26 is pivoted to one end of a link 40, the other end of which is pivoted to a lever 42, lever 42 being pivoted at its lower end in a bracket arrangement 44 fixed to the back-beam I2. Lever 42 is connected at its upper end to a half-speed friction box rod (not shown) the uses of which are welLunderstood and which will not be further described.

It will be understood that the mechanism hereinabove described is in itself all well known and, except as it combines or cooperates with the oiling means according to the invention, forms no part of the present invention.

In the operation of the ,coulier mechanism as above described, the rotation of cam I8 reciprocates link 22 and thereby reciprocates through levers 24, 26 and 42 the friction box rod 36 and the half-speed rod and the parts connected thereto. As the reciprocating p'art's a'ccelerate, the pressure of the'contacting surfaces of cam l8 and followers Zilis high and this is especially so as the'parts stop moving in one direction and start to move in the opposite direction.

Adequate amounts of lubricant must therefore be regularly supplied to the active surface of cam i8 or the active surfaces of followers 20, or both, in order to prevent excessive wear of these parts. Owing to the precise register'desiredbetween the yarn carriers onthe one hand and the sinkers, dividers and needles on the other, very little lost motion is permissible between the cam and the followers and therefore the ate'of wear must be held to the minimum. Y 7

For supplying the required lubricant'for cam l8; a pan 46 is commonlyprovided which is suitably-fixed to the framework of the machine as by screws 48 passing through lugs-50 into the back beam l2, pan 46 being 'shownas of a usual form and as having a shallow pool of oil 52 therein, Figs. 2, 3 and 5. Owing to the swinging movements of the link 22 and followers 29, it is difficult to enclose the cam l8 andfollowers sufficiently to prevent them fromthrowing out oil and thereby creating a nuisance in the form of'waste oil which may causeaccidents from falling, which mixes withand holds dirt and causes a firehazard. 'The'pool 52-, in accordance with the presentinvention, is' kept at a shallow level sothat the cam 18- does not strikeit. during the revolution of the-cam, thus, the objectionable throwing and/or, splashing. of oil is avoided.

Inorder to lubricate the cam l8, a novel'arrangement is. provided whereby oil isjelevated from the. pool '52 and applied: to the wear surface of the cam l8. To this end, there.'is shown a member preferably in the form .of a flexible strip ornarrow plate 54 so formed and supported that it is biased to a position above the-oil level but which is pressed downat timesby the cam l8 so as to dip-into the oil and raise some oil into contact withthe cam, thisioccurring in the, arrangement shown once in each revolution of'the cam. As shown, the strip 54. extends generally lengthwiseof the pan 45 and parallel tothe beam I2 in the plane of the cam 3. At one end, the strip 54'is shown as fixed by screws or rivets. 56, Fig. 4,-to-a supporting bracket 58 at'apoint near the level of oilpool 52.- Asshowm'the strip 54 extends from its connection with bracket '58 in a general lateral plane above the pool of oil but below the cam 18. .In the illustrated embodiment of the invention, the strip 54 is bent upwardly,

. angle 55 in the plane of operation of certain portions of the cam I8 and a length 59 which lies substantially horizontal when strip 54 is free from pressure. to a rounded point 60 at its free end. The supporting'bracket 58. is shown as extending transversely of the oil pan 46 from its point of connection with strip 54 at about the oil level to the rear side of the oil pan and then up to about the upper edge of the pan where it is shown as fastened to the pan by a screw 66, Fig. 5. It will be understood that the invention is not limited to a particular form or method of supporting the strip 54.

A certain degree of resiliency is essential to the operation of the particular form of the invention shown in order that the strip 54 may lift itself from theoil pool afterbeingpressedat least partially below its surface; As shown, the horizontal portion 59 of strip. 54 is resilient enough and of such shape to maintain contact with thesurface of the cam l8 throughout substantially the length of said-portion 59, that is, from the upper bend 55 in the strip to its outer free end 68. .By such construction'a material amount of oil is elevated to the cam surface, and in such mannenas to regularly lubricate the cam from a suspended-oil supply without splashing. r

In operation, when cam l8 revolves it lies entirely above and out of contact withstrip 54 'during thegreater part-of each revolution; The strip is therefore free to stand, as shown in Figs; 1, 3 and 5, in a position in which the portion thereof adapted to contact cam lBlies above the oil level and intermediate cam I8 and the oil pool 52. -As the cam l 8 rotates certain portion or portions on its surface as it approaches the lowerlevel, i; e., the vertical line through the axis of shaft-I6, brings the cam into contact with the strip 54"at the' 'point of its upper bend or an angle 55." As viewed in Fig. 3, as the cam revolves after its initial contactwith the strip, its lowest spotxmoves downward between the moment of initial'contact and the moment at which the parts are in .the positions shown in Fig. 2, the cam pressing strip 5'4 farther and farther downward and into the,

oil of pool 52 in the period between said twomoments, bend 55 naturall revolving about bracket 58 as an axis and therefore swinging somewhat to the left as viewed in Fig; 3 as it movesdownward. The lowest position of strip 54 is asfshow'n when thesaid lowest spot on the surface of 'cam' IB'is the one in the vertical line through the axis of shaft I6, this being the position of the. parts shown in Fig. 2 in which the point of" maximum radius of the cam is directly beneath its axis and the freeend' of strip 54 is some distancebeneath the surface of pool 52. As the cam I8 th en begins torotate from the position shown in Fig; 2 toward that shown in Fig. 3, thepoiht' of Contact between'cam 'l8 and strip 54 moves'still farther toward the left 'as viewed'in'Fig; 2ur1'til'itreac1iS the end or tip 68, so that the oil'onth'e upper surface of strip 54 is wiped off onto-the cam over a sufficient length of the perimeter of the cam'to transfer the required amount of 'oilto the cam surface. *The oil is then spread during-the operation of. cam 18 and followers-20 so that a filnrof the necessary thickness is maintained over -the entire, working surface of the cam.v -Moreover;-the

The oiling strip is shown as tapering K urface of the substantially horizontal length 59, whereby to increase the effective oil transfer area of the strip 54.

While the invention is not limited as to the point of support of the strip 54, it is preferred that if the point of the cam at maximum distance from the axis of rotation moves from, say, right to left when the cam is viewed from a certain direction the part 54 be supported at the right of the axis of rotation as viewed from said direction. This arrangement is the one shown and gives a smooth Wiping action between cam 18 and strip 54. The strip 54 as shown is of thin resilient metal, stamped from a sheet and pressed into the shape shown. However, the invention is not limited to the use of metal or to thin material. Further, the arrangement shown requires very little space and can be mounted entirely within the usual oil pan while the oil level in the pan can be relatively low so that only a small amount of oil need be in use at any one time, leading to economy in the use of oil.

As appears clearly in Fig. 4, the free end of strip 54 tapers from a point near its upper bend in the strip nearly to a point at the end and while the wider portions of the strip are not as wide as the face of cam I 8 as appears in Fig. 5. While the invention is not limited to strips having the proportions shown, such a strip, relatively to a coulier cam, has been found to supply the desired amount of oil to the cam and without splashing or otherwise wasting oil.

The method according to the invention of lubricating the wear surfaces of cams and the like will be obvious to those skilled in the art from the foregoing descriptive matter.

Of course, the novel device shown and described and the novel method by which I obtain the referred to advantageous results, can be changed and modified in various ways without departing from the invention herein disclosed and hereinafter claimed.

I claim: 1 The combination witha coulier cam of a flat knitting machine mounted .to revolve above and out of contact with the surface of an oil pool in a container, of lubricating means for said cam comprising a resilient strip mounted below and generally in the plane of said cam, said strip supported at one end, biased toward a position generally above the oil, and having a bend therein intermediate its ends and tapering from said bend toward its free end, said bend cooperating with said cam during a portion of its revolution to force said free end beneath the oil, the strip when in normal raised position having a wiping contact with a portion of the surface of the cam to transfer oil thereto, and the width of the tapered portion of said strip being proportioned relatively to the throw and width of the cam so as to supply sufficient oil to the cam.

LE ROY WHITE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 183,108 Beal Oct. 10, 1876 2,004,988 Jackson June 18, 1935 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 12,716 Great Britain Sept. 29, 1910 3,766 Great Britain 1892 

